Access the User Session

It is often desirable to set certain custom properties for a user session. While these properties are external to InetSoft, they can still be accessed from within the InetSoft environment through the SRPrincipal object that is associated with the user session. The following sections explain how to access and modify the SRPrincipal object.

Access SRPrincipal in JSP/Servlet

The SRPrincipal object can be accessed from the HttpSession object within a custom JSP or Servlet. You can add or set the properties of the SRPrincipal object using the setProperty() method.

Example: Access SRPrincipal from HttpSession

<%@ page import="inetsoft.sree.security.*, inetsoft.sree.RepletRepository" %>
<%
SRPrincipal p;
p = (SRPrincipal) session.getAttribute(RepletRepository.PRINCIPAL_COOKIE);

if(p == null) {
   p = new SRPrincipal();

}

// setting a custom property
p.setProperty("property_name", "property_value");

// setting the locale using the locale string
p.setLocale(new Locale("en","US"));

session.setAttribute(RepletRepository.PRINCIPAL_COOKIE, p);
%>

Access SRPrincipal via Login Listener

You can modify the SRPrincipal object to set user-specific properties, which you can later access in VPM script, etc. See Access SRPrincipal in Script. To modify the SRPrincipal object, implement a LoginListener to be called at the time the user is authenticated (whether during live login or scheduled task). Follow the steps below:

Implement the inetsoft.sree.security.LoginListener interface’s single method userLogin(LoginEvent). Use LoginEvent.getPrincipal() to obtain the SRPrincipal object, and SRPrincipal.setProperty() to assign a custom property. See setProperty() below. For example:
Example: LoginListener
```
import inetsoft.sree.security.*;

public class MyLoginListener implements LoginListener {
   public void userLogin(LoginEvent event) {
      SRPrincipal prin = event.getPrincipal();
      prin.setProperty("myprop", "myval");
   }
}
```
Set property sree.security.listeners to a comma-separated list of your fully qualified LoginListener class names. (See All Properties for information on how to set properties.) For example:
```
sree.security.listeners = inetsoft.sree.security.MyLoginListener
```
Optional: To customize the “Welcome” text displayed in the default portal, call SRPrincipal.setAlias("Alternate Name").

Access SRPrincipal in Script

You can access the SRPrincipal object within VPM trigger scripts and Dashboard scripts (in the onRefresh handler or in component-level script). See Create a New VPM and Add Script to a Dashboard for more information about using script.

Example: Access SRPrincipal in Script

var p = parameter['__principal__'];

// getting a custom property:
p.getProperty("property_name");

// Getting a common SRPrincipal property (user locale):
p.getLocale();

setProperty()

The setProperty() method inserts a property (string) into the SRPrincipal object. The sample below uses setProperty() within a Login Listener:

Example: setProperty() in LoginListener

import inetsoft.sree.security.*;

public class MyLoginListener implements LoginListener {
  public void userLogin(LoginEvent event) {
    SRPrincipal prin = event.getPrincipal();
    prin.setProperty("myprop", "myval");
  }
}

The corresponding getProperty() method allows you to retrieve a property value.

prin.getProperty("myprop")

In a non-SSO setting, set the __internal__ property when you create the SRPrincipal object, as shown below:

SRPrincipal prin = new SRPrincipal(user,...);
prin.setProperty("__internal__", "true");

setLocale()

The setLocale() property allows you to set the user locale. The syntax is as follows:

principal.setLocale(new Locale("language_code","country_code","variant_name"));

The specified language code, country code, and variant name are used to load the localization mapping files with corresponding names:

SreeBundle_{language_code}_{country_code}_{variant_name}.properties
srinter_{language_code}_{country_code}_{variant_name}.properties

For more information about the structure and role of the srinter and SreeBundle files, see Localization in Manage the Server. The variant name allows you to specify a sub-locale or other arbitrary identifier. It is optional and available only within an SSO filter. (See Integrate with Webapp for more information on SSO implementation.)

Example 1. Localization without variant

The following example code sets the user locale to US English (without variant) and loads localization settings from mapping files SreeBundle_en_US.properties and srinter_en_US.properties.

HttpServletRequest hrequest = (HttpServletRequest) request;
HttpSession session = hrequest.getSession();
SRPrincipal principal = (SRPrincipal)session.getAttribute(RepletRepository.PRINCIPAL_COOKIE);
principal.setLocale("en","US");

When a variant is used to set the locale, localization mappings are loaded from both the optional base file (e.g., srinter_en_US.properties) as well as from the variant file (e.g., srinter_en_US_NJ.properties), with settings from the variant file overwriting any conflicting settings from the optional base file.

Example 2. Localization with variant

The following example code adds a variant to load the localization settings from variant mapping files SreeBundle_en_US_NJ.properties and srinter_en_US_NJ.properties as well as from base files SreeBundle_en_US.properties and srinter_en_US.properties.

HttpServletRequest hrequest = (HttpServletRequest) request;
HttpSession session = hrequest.getSession();
SRPrincipal principal = (SRPrincipal)session.getAttribute(RepletRepository.PRINCIPAL_COOKIE);
principal.setLocale("en","US","NJ");

setParameter()

The setParameter() method inserts a parameter and its value into the SRPrincipal object. The sample below uses setParameter() within an SSO request filter:

Example: setParameter()

HttpServletRequest hrequest = (HttpServletRequest) request;
HttpSession session = hrequest.getSession();
SRPrincipal principal = (SRPrincipal)session.getAttribute(RepletRepository.PRINCIPAL_COOKIE);
principal.setParameter("State", new String[] {"NJ", "NY", "CT"})

A parameter value specified with setParameter() can be accessed in the following contexts:

In Dashboards via the parameter script keyword.
In a parameterized condition on a Data Worksheet data block. (See Filter Data in Prepare Your Data.)
In a parameterized condition on a Dashboard component. (See Add Conditions in Visualize Your Data.)

When accessing the parameter in a condition (Dashboard or Data Worksheet), the name of the condition variable should exactly match the parameter name specified by setParameter().

Use Case: Simulating User Session

The example presented here will provide administrative users the ability to simulate different user sessions without explicitly logging in as that user. To login as a user, see Login as Different User in Manage the Server.

The administrator would login to the InetSoft server, and access a custom JSP page which sets custom properties on the SRPrincipal object.

Set custom property

inetsoft.sree.security.SRPrincipal p =
(inetsoft.sree.security.SRPrincipal)session.getAttribute
(inetsoft.sree.RepletRepository.PRINCIPAL_COOKIE);

// setting a custom property
p.setProperty("sim_user", "david");

These custom properties can be accessed within the script of a VPM and used to set a user/role based filtering parameter defined in the Conditions tab of the VPM.

VPM Lookup trigger

var p = parameter['__principal__'];
if(!isNull(p)) {
   parameter['usr'] = p.getProperty("sim_user");
}

Note that parameter['usr'] would be a parameter defined in a clause of the VPM filtering conditions (in the Conditions tab), for example:

sales_employees.first_name [is] [equal to] $(usr)

Reserved parameters such as $(_USER_) or $(_ROLES_) cannot be modified (set) in VPM script and should not be used directly in VPM filtering conditions.